FX

FX is a cable/satellite network owned by News Corp., as part of the media conglomerate's Fox Entertainment Group.

FX, originally called fX, was launched in 1994 as an interactive channel. For its first few years, it broadcast a mix of live programming (such as a call-in show called The Pet Department) and reruns of shows from the '60s, '70s and '80s. The network also ventured into sports programming in 1996, when it broadcast the World Cup of Hockey (buying the rights from its sister network, FOX).

Relaunched in 1997 as a general entertainment channel (and renamed FX), the network at first specialized in repeats of The X-Files, In Living Color, Married... with Children, M*A*S*H, and other offerings from its sister networks and the 20th Century Fox movie studio, as well as airing select NASCAR and MLB events. In the last few years, though, FX has begun producing its own programming, led by cop drama The Shield, medical drama Nip/Tuck and paramedic drama Rescue Me. Thanks to those and other edgy, urban dramas and reality shows, the network has carved out its own niche in the News Corp. empire.

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-- A. Wu